“It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” Ecclesiastes 7:2-4
In the Sermon on the Mount the Beatitudes flow together. As we read
the Lord’s second saying, we go back to the first to gain context. Those who are poor (humble, broken) in spirit are blessed by God. Then we read the broken ones mourn – they have deep grief. The
question is what do they grieve over?
We mourn over our personal sin When we see God
for who He is and we see ourselves for who we are, it
causes us to grieve over our sin, how we have lived, the
shame we have brought to God. Isaiah expresses that truth.
He writes, “Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a
man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Isaiah 6:5 James tells us the same thing in a different way.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Mourning over sin is not something we can dredge up in our
souls. It is not manmade, it is produced by God. As we study God’s word we see how He views sin, then we realize how sin still permeates our lives even as we think we are living Godly. That causes our hearts to tremble and mourn over how far we fall short of God’s absolute holiness.
We mourn over sin of others One of the reasons the church does not exhibit the fear of God today is we do not view sin as He sees it. Think of how lukewarm believers have become. We laugh at sin on television and the movies, we condone sin if the majority society says it should be acceptable; we don’t obey God it it offends others. Isaiah writes of our day when he records how Israel lost the ability to mourn over sin. “And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth. But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (Isaiah 22:12-13)
What can we learn? The Lord tells us those who mourn are blessed by God. Paul tells us why. “For godly sorrow (mourning) produces repentance leading to salvation.” Those who are poor in spirit, who realize in themselves there is no good thing and those who mourn over their sin are experiencing the mind of God. They see the consequences sin produces in His creation. God’s forgiveness and ultimately God’s comfort are not found unless one first mourns. There
is a great truth hidden here. Not only does this apply to being born again but it applies to our sanctification. Even after salvation, we do not laugh and tolerate sin, we mourn it and its consequences. We view sin and righteousness the way Christ sees them. Why are we blessed in doing this?
Because when we truly hate sin we avoid it and its consequences, That’s the path to joy!